Prison Gang Reports

Neta Association
(Asociacion)

Some reports claim Neta originated iIn 1980, while others claim
it was founded earlier, perhaps in the 1970s sometime. It was originally
founded in Oso Blanco Prison, Rio Piedras, and Puerto Rico, where
it was then also known as "Asociacion Pro-Derecho Al Confinando."
It then began to make headlines in the US shortly after in New York,
New Jersey and Connecticut.

The original founder of the organization, Carlos Torres, had lived
in poverty and gotten in legal trouble since he was a young boy
before having intentions to form the gang in 1974. While an inmate
at Oso Blanco prison in 1980, he was given the opportunity to develop
a stronger network of individuals. However, Torres never was able
to witness the rise of the gang that would within a few years become
the largest prison gang in Puerto Rico, and he died in prison in
1981. Fellow members said that Torres created Neta to further the
rights of prisoners and "extend efforts to help fellow inmates understand
the fight for Puerto Rican independence and other abuses that were
committed against our communities" (11 February 2003, EFE News Service).

The gang split into two factions in 1995, one following the original
ideals of founder Carlos Torres and the other going independent.
Recently, however, efforts by members to reunite the estranged factions
has begun to increase.

According to the EFE News Service, the association attempts to promote
the rights of prisoners and "help fellow inmates understand
the fight for Puerto Rican independence and other abuses that were
committed against our communities" (11 February 2003 EFE
News Service). Much of the work by faithful members involves
teaching Hispanic culture and education, some of which includes
experiences from inside prison, and many members claim they are
strictly part of an inmate-rights group. Like most culturally-based
street and prison gangs, Neta has reportedly become the voice of
marginalized, Latino youth, and actively recruits teenagers from
streets across the country. However, members insist it be called
an "organization" rather than a gang. Perhaps many of
their activities do fit into this category, but the stigma generated
by a handful of aggressors sheds the gang of any legal credibility.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Pamela Chen, quoted in the
New York Post in 2001, "The Neta women's role [in prison],
traditionally, was to take care of the inmates, collect funds and
do public service." According to ... the Neta's "Code"
does not include killing, unlike the codes of many other major prison
and street gangs.

According to the New Jersey Department of Corrections, the Neta
lack a hierarchy, and thus remain a loosely connected group of individually
run gangs (26 April 2005 The Daily Journal).

Major conflicts have been reported between the Latin
Kings and Neta, such as the 2004 fatal stabbing of a Latin King
member in the Madrid district of Carabanchel. The Latin Kings website
afterwards posted calls for revenge. At the same time, however,
the Latin Kings have been reported to be allied with both the NETA
and La
Familia in county jails in Massachusetts. These three gangs,
"in an uneasy alliance," now consensually claim certain
key portions of the North End section of Boston, while surrendering
primary turf to the Los Solidos in the South End (7 August 1994
The Boston Globe). However, the "uneasy alliance"
between the triad has seen sporadic indications of violence and
turf conflicts. One picture of the "alliance" might be
a relationship of commercial necessity. Members of both primary
gangs claim they hold true to their roots. Users have reported that
the history of the Latin Kings and the Netas being cousins go back
to Rikers Island Prision where both organizations fought against
the increasing growth of Bloods and Crips
on the East Coast.

Conflicts have been reported with The Asian Sworn Brothers, at
least in Boston, where stabbings involving the two gangs have reported
at local high schools and elsewhere, including the murder of a Sworn
Brothers member in 1998.